The Boston Cannons lost two lacrosse legends to retirement this offseason in Ryan Boyle and Stephen Berger. They also left another long time MLL player Matt Stribel off the protected roster after he was a late addition to the team this past season. Veteran defender Kyle Sweeney is still on the roster after putting together another great summer in the league. Sweeney will bring leadership back to the Cannons this 2015 season. Of course, Paul Rabil was protected, and he looks to come back better than ever off his foot injury.
Some quality protections were players such as Jim Connolly. Jim only played in 3 games this here for Ohio scoring 2 goals. He was a great player at UMass though and even though he has bounced around a bit in the MLL. His best season was when he played twelve games for Ohio in 2012 and put up 32 points. After losing Ryan Boyle on attack, Connolly adds depth at the position. Brendan Porter came over from LXM this past summer and played good when on the field. Porter adds size and athletic ability at the defensive midfield spot.
It would have been hard for Boston to let all that potential go. Eric Martin has had a great pro career in the NLL and the MLL after graduating from Salisbury. He only played in five games this past 2014 season but the Cannons kept him around to see if he has anything left in the tank for this upcoming summer. Overall the Cannons have a great protected roster with names such as Paul Rabil, Will Manny, Kevin Buchanan and goalie Jordan Burke.
Their defense has veterans like Sweeny, Mitch Belisle and Martin on it. It also has some young talent in third year man Scott Ratliff and second year player Scott McWilliams.
I would give their protected roster an A- but this team can only get stronger after the Supplemental and Colligate drafts.
